Eric Schmidt allegedly promised ex a slice of his Anthropic jackpot — but she’s still waiting for it: sources

Michelle Ritter alleges that Eric Schmidt promised her 5% of his Anthropic stake for work she says helped secure his investment, but cut her out after their relationship ended. The dispute is part of a wider federal lawsuit in which Ritter alleges she went unpaid for several projects; the claim to a share of Anthropic is not included in the court papers described in the article.

Emails show Ritter helped coordinate early discussions with Anthropic’s founders in 2020 and 2021, and Schmidt later invested tens of millions of dollars in the company’s $124 million Series A. Schmidt reportedly owns about 1% of Anthropic, valued at nearly $10 billion when the company announced a $965 billion valuation in May; the article says a possible public listing could put its valuation near $1.5 trillion. The article cites sources for Ritter’s account, while noting the emails do not record a promise of equity.